Following on from the useless box tutorial, this week we created a composite of the render and found sounds via free sound.org to create a comedically charged piece of work complete with sound. The main thing learned from this workshop was the ability to control and manipulate audio in post-production settings. For example, In the video below the introductory mechanic sound, is reversed towards the end to get an opening and closing ideal across audibly. I particularly wanted to cut off and create harsher sound effects, to convey a sense of violence within the character’s intentions.
I believe it is essential, even if not explored personally, to consider the rubber hose animation movement that was prevalent in the 1920s- 1930s animated culture. An essential part of the rubber-hose style is that animators were using “curving forms” that sacrificed ” any sense of a body’s structure for the sake of smooth, flowing movement” (Barrier, 2003 pp.74). An interesting thing discussed by Barrier is how The Skeleton Dance was animated “very rapidly in essentially mechanical patterns ” and how the skeletons “take part in simple repetitive dances” (2003, pp.61). He expands how ” their bony limbs are surprisingly rubbery” (Barrier, 2003, pp.61) and gives implications that the robber hose style is complimented by its strong use of sound. Due to the rubber-hose style’s inherent ability to create smooth cycles, its timing with music potentially looks less forced and mechanical, ironically adding a level of realism to ‘dance’ motions. This arises many considerations when designing my own skeletons and their movements in relation to sound.
Examples of Rubber-Hose Animation
3D Translation
An interesting example I found was a YouTube video which accentuates features of the ‘rubber-hose’ style of animation recreated in blender. This, however considers more visually stylistic approaches only in its inherent character design. The movement also do not truly resemble any likeness of the rubber-hose’s squash stretch and cycle adaptability.
Considering this, I have researched into potential ways to create a rubber-hose rig within 3D space a researched several rigging tutorials withing Maya. The video below highlights quite efficiently how this effect can be achieved by using leg and arm IKs. This will very useful for future endeavours into nostalgic recreation within 3D space.
References
Barrier, M. (2003) Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford University Press.
Everyone discussed their progress. The sound students already had sound files that we can begin experimenting with movement regarding music with. I and Marianna exemplified the setbacks we were experiencing with the rig, and showed the IK developments we were able to make.
Personal Goals:
.Complete and fix issues with the Rigs on both birds
. Explore import/ export relationship with Maya and Unity
Rigging
During the process of the Maya to unity workflow and animation exporting we came across several issues in which I had to research even further and expand my understanding of rigging aspects. Initially, looking at the rigging files that were shared between Marianna and myself, the hierarchy of the controls, geometry and joints was messy, and seemly caused issues during unity exports. Looking into methods of exporting and importing animation from Maya, the below video made some points that indicated to me structure was not cohesive and clear and was attached to several elements of the geometry.
Revising the rigs from the previous week, there seemed to be underlying issues in the way that the Ik in the wings was attached to the rest of the rig, which caused some exporting issues that did not move inside unity’s game engine even when the animation was baked into the FBX file.
Import Tests in Unity
Trying to engage effectively understand Maya and unity’s relationship to one another, I wanted to produce several tests in order to see which issues we will encounter, and be time-efficient before we began properly producing character animation to get an effective Maya to Unity workflow.
Due to previous model import tests being static in motion, in order to test a working import I took the Mr Boney rig and animated all the different IK controllers in unison, baked the keyframes to the rig, and exported them as an FBX file for unity in order to get it to function. As seen in the test below, this test was successful and lead me to consider two different aspects: The hierarchy of Mr Bony’s mesh and joint structure and the export preset options in Maya.
Successful IK Movement in UnityBony Rig and Mesh Hierarchies
After studying the structure of the Mr Bony Rig, I noticed that they were primarily sectioned into different groups, that all fed into each other. Containing all the controllers, mesh and skeleton rig into different groups so there is clean access to all of them. Taking this into account, I replicated a similar file structure with a similar joint order and after clearing the history, rebinding the skin and exporting, I was able to create a working FBX file of Seagull A.
Initial Rig Hierarchy
Revised Rig Hierarchy
On earlier exports from Maya and Imports into unity, we experienced issues with the wings not moving, and earlier on there were skin binding issues due to the separation of the wings to the main body mesh. As stated by Watkins, by reducing the objects attached individually to the mesh, the number of “draw calls” required is reduced, which overall reduced joint deformations, therefore reducing the number of “cost processor cycles” (2012,p.280). This, in essence, will optimize the playback speed, which is imperative for the functions of games due to their ‘real-time rendering’.
Below is the video evidencing the FBX export of the animation test from Maya functions in Unity with wings and IK legs which helped me reassess the pipeline me and my team would implement when producing animations. Going forward with our import and exporting issues, we will use the following method below-
Ensure you are animating with a Clean the Hierarchy/ Rig> Animate on layers> Bake> Export
I found that implementing the additional step of animation layers would create a smoother and more efficient pipeline to use later on in the animation process. As stated by Roy, animation layers “increase the ease of creative tasks like trying different approaches and variations” and also simplify the use of graph editor curves by compartmentalising them ( 2014, P.273). This is something we intend to use going forward for the project also as it allows animation baking to be easily reverted in old files if we need to extract or add elements such as facial expressions separate from the body movements.
An issue we encountered during this process was a loss of polygons in the mesh when exporting animated rig FX files. Researching into this we found a few solutions that can assist us going into the next week, one being the smooth option which will essentially bake the polygons into a higher count so that once it is converting into an FBX, the polygon information should not be ‘corrupted’ when imported into unity.
Another alternative I looked into with a member of the VR project was polygonal smoothing within unity itself to see if it can be rectified directly within the software.
Smoothing Options in Maya
Due to the multiple tests, we conducted using both animated and static models of the character, it appears that only the animated models cause the mesh issues, even using the above technique. When using the smoothing techniques within unity’s outlier, it had little to no effect, only making the rougher edges and mesh displacements slightly less drastic in appearance. Going forward with our research in fixing this particular issue into the next week it may be important to consider if the mesh in Maya may be directly affecting this perhaps due to polygon collision which can cause their appearance to be ‘defaced’ in unity’s software.
Working with the music students, I wanted to use their audio and create an animation that interacts with the soundscape of the game, potentially creating an additional character and comedic effect. The animation was created with the idea that it could act as an ‘idle’ animation for seagull B to help accentuate his ‘simplicity’ and general happiness or naivete. This will also help improve player immersion as the characters are interacting more with their environment.
Dance Animation Test
Importing the animation into unity, while simultaneously reflecting on the progression of the technical aspects involving unity and Maya’s relationship, highlights great progression as it also indicates several factors that are not working. The main indication of an underlying mesh/ rigging issue still needing resolution is the ‘floating’ eyelids which seem to offset themselves from their frozen transformation when any body movement is made. The other obvious issue at hand is the mesh deformity in the right-wing, which I will have to further look into to understand why exactly the polygons delete themselves in appearance once imported into unity.
Dance Animation in Unity
Eye Lid Rigging Issues
Going into Maya once more to inspect the eyelid rigging issues it seems that there is once again a hierarchal issue within the mesh structure, in which the eyelids are separate to the main mesh and seem to pivot around the ‘blink’ controllers rather than the mesh itself.
Eyelid OffsetEyelid and Eye Offset
In order to resolve this issue, I followed the same method that I applied previously in order to attach the wings to the mesh for skin binding purposes and grouped the eyelids in a way that enabled them to follow the eye mesh without causing an offset. Due to the rebinding required during this process, I also will have to re-rig the set driven keys to creating an effective blink method in the following week ahead. reflecting on this, in future I will ensure that the mesh is neat and comprehendible for additional software exports.
Organisation and File structure
In order to effectively manage and structure our files as a team, I thought it would be more effective to create an organised file structure to allow accessibility for all team members and reduce the number of unnecessary ‘we transfer’ files over email; especially since these were causing Maya file corruptions. This will be particularly useful when sharing the scene set-up files and finalised rigs so that both myself and Marianna animating will be using the same versions of everything to prevent inconsistencies.
File Structure on a Shared Google Drive
References
Roy, K., 2014. How to cheat in Maya 2014. Abingdon: Focal Press.
Watkins, A (2012) Creating Games with Unity and Maya : How to Develop Fun and Marketable 3D Games. Burlington, MA: Routledge. Available at: https://search-ebscohost-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=376905&site=ehost-live&scope=site (Accessed: 27 Februrary 2022).
Following this week’s seminar, we participated in a group discussion with other team members and created a mind map discussing ideas of how to progress and develop our project with differing teams.
In these teams, we had to discuss a question that would make us critically reflect on our project and the way we approach it. Our team’s question was: If you were to remove one element from each of your projects completely, how would this affect the work?
For our project, we took several approaches to this question, thinking about software changes, narrative changes and character changes. FOr narrative, we discuss how without the use of comic bubbles, the project loses its comic adaptation in style and seems to take away from the intended experience. This was contradicted in our class, however, as someone suggested that perhaps adapting the games aesthetically to a cell-shaded style could retain the comic book feel without inherently needing the speech bubbles to adapt to this.
We also discussed how for software use, if we switched from using unity to an engine such as Unreal Engine, the processes and overall rendering would look very different and perhaps create an ease of relationship between Maya and unity due to its easier import and export options. We also discussed that perhaps one of the most significant changes would be changing the characters from anthropomorphic seagulls to humans, as it would take away the entire comedic value of our project and begs the question of writing the concept entirely due to how flat and mundane it would feel in a ‘human’ experience.
In Class Mind Map
One of the major pieces of feedback we received from a classmate was perhaps thinking about how the entire experience, if not in VR, could be adapted in a way that still feels immersive. In this respect, they suggested perhaps making it a 360 experience using real screens and 360 sound space using speakers to immerse viewers in the world without the need for a headset, integrating the real and virtual realms in a more literal sense.
During this meeting, we met the sound design students who would be helping develop the soundscape and effects for the game.
Personal Goals:
. Set up the scenes for the interactions
.Animate cycles
Scene References and Organisation
While beginning the scene set-up process in order to effectively organise our scenes, I encountered several issues which created some major setbacks in our progression of animation. When moving the global control of the seagull, the main body mesh separated itself and offset from the main rig controllers and the eyes. This issue seemed to occur in both rigs, so looking into solutions for both rigs I found that the root issue was in the rig’s entire hierarchal structure, which needed to be edited to make more coherent sense.
With a lack of understanding of the rigging process, when opening the referenced file to investigate the issue at hand, I tried to delete the history which deleted several elements that destroyed aspects of the rig such as the Wing Iks. As stated by Watkins in his book Creating Games with Unity and Maya: How to Develop Fun and Marketable 3D Games (2012), He expands on the importance of deleting its mesh history before beginning the rigging process to minimise the file size and prevent and excess of nodes, so critically reflecting on this in future, our process of rigging will have to be much cleaner. In this light, I unbound the rig from the skin in order to reset the mesh and deleted its history as I found several issues to tackle.
Rigging Issues and Solutions
One of the key elements we had to consider when improving the rig was the addition of IK controllers. When going to create a test walk cycle with our characters to provide to the VR students, I noticed that with a lack of IK controls in the legs, full-body animation would prove excessively difficult for us in the long run. Taking this into consideration, I research and followed some YouTube tutorials in order to gain an understanding of how leg hierarchies work in an IK Format.
Following this, I created a test that displayed how this worked in order for my fellow teammates to see and understand how I intended to adjust the lower half of both the rigs to improve the mobility and fluidity of the animation.
Seagull A
Applying this to the first rig, Seagull A, in which the legs are longer and more replicant of real human legs, the implementation was fairly smooth and easy to calculate. The real difficulty in terms of achieving ‘realism’ or anthropomorphised Seagull behaviour will be in the skin weighting and directional knee bends.
Seagull Movement StudySkeleton and Joint Creation
Lining up the ‘knee’ controllers and placing the skeleton IK into the seagull in order to correctly place the joints and attach the new IK legs to the rest of the rig. Understanding joint connection hierarchies and IK applications, a key element I learned that can affect joint rotation is the ‘Rotate-Plane Solver’ which changes the way that the joint can follow a pole-vector control.
IK Implementation, ‘Rotate-Plane Solver’
While it is not vital to gaining directional control, it is possible to set the IK directions early in the rigging process but bending the ‘knee’ joint towards the direction of intended influence, which helped my understanding of knee and pole vector rigging practised to make them smoother in the future.
Once the rig was successfully connected in a sensical hierarchal order, the next key step was to create a pole vector constrain and control that could control the knee pivot. This is a key element to rigging with IK controllers, that in retrospect could have been used to create directional control for the wings, and is something I will heavily consider in future rig creations, especially in more animalistic bipedal rigs.
Set Driven Key Implementation
A learning step for me was understanding how to use and implement set driven keys. Going back to the reference of the seagull movements, their feet roll in a similar fashion to humans; typically in CG rigs, extra features are created in the attribute editor for the ease and access of animations to create the most realistic animation possible without breaking elements of the rig itself. So In creating different controllers for the foot, ball, and individual toe joints, I was able to add set driven keys to that group to create foot and toe rolls that can be manipulated in the attribute editor. Following the tutorial from earlier, the process of creating toe and foot rolls was an extremely useful tool that would help myself and Marianna key aspects of the rig in a more clear and less ‘messy’ way without direct animation onto the joints of the character, which cannot be frozen in transformation.
Toe and Feet Controls
Expanding onto clean rigging pipelines, I thought it may be worthwhile to limit the translation and rotation information in order to effectively restrict the motions available to the character so they make logical sense to the world. For example, in limiting the X-axis information in alls the rig to stop and be more proportional without excessively stretching and contorting the joints and therefore breaking the mesh of the skin. This will help to build a level of consistency during the animation process between me and Marianna as the ‘volume’ and shape of the character will appear the same, and also add to its character believability.
Transformation Limitations
In addition to the IK leg control, I also found issues with the way the eye controls were functioning on the seagull character, as they were directly parented to the eyes rather than aim constrained, which is a much neater method of rigging eyes as it does not directly affect the translation of the sphere, but instead only its rotation.
Old Eye Rigging Example (Before Adjustment)
Below showcases all the rigging adjustments I was able to make on the Seagull A rig, including IK controls and eye rigging controls.
One of the initial problems I went in to fix was the skin weight issues on seagull A, as both feet had influence over one another, so they could not be lifting without dragging the polygons of the other along with it. Experimenting with different aspects of this, my first attempt was to add a negative paint influence to the faces affected on the opposite foot, however, despite my best efforts in this, the influence seemed to not remove itself. After attempting to find several solutions to this, I discovered that the method that proved most effective in this case was flooding the affected vertexes with either 100% Positive or 0% negative influence in order to get them to act more realistic in motion. While this worked and I was able to more efficiently paint the weight into even and realistic weight distribution, this seemed to point out several issues in the mesh hierarchy, as in flooding these vertexes the wings were also entirely affected and followed the feet rather than the main body mesh. This caused further setbacks in the rigging process but offered suit for some critical reflection on rigging pipelines for myself. In reference to Watkins, he states how Maya in the process of skin binding will attach its vertices to the nearest joints on the initial bind without the contextual physical and biological context we have, and since the wings were not attached to the mesh via ‘combine mesh’ attributes, the vertices must have attached themselves to the feet without spacial context ( 2012, p. 303).
Skin Weighting
Seagull B Rigging Issues and Corrections
Taking the same developments from my rigging progression of Seagull A, I applied these to the seagull Brig. Since learning the process with seagull A, I was able to apply these changes faster with more accuracy, which led to a cleaner overall rig.
Old Eye Rigging (Before Adjustment)
As seen in the video above, the older rigged version of the eyes was not very effective for the animation process, so adjusting and changing them to aim constraints gave us much better control over eye rotation and look much more realistic. In order to maintain and preserve the style and character of the rig, instead of creating an aim constraint that moved both eyes at the same time, I added controls that matched the distance offset between the eyes so they are controlled separately, to upkeep the confused and ‘stupid’ look of the bird.
Eye Rig AdjustmentsAdded IK and Set Dirven Keys to Rig B
References
Adam Watkins (2012) Creating Games with Unity and Maya : How to Develop Fun and Marketable 3D Games. Burlington, MA: Routledge. Available at: https://search-ebscohost-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=376905&site=ehost-live&scope=site (Accessed: 5 April 2022).
In this week’s workshop, we explored how camera angles can convey a story but show the same thing from multiple perspectives. For example, In the two videos shown below, the same action is occurring, however, their point of view indicate different stories.
The first shows a man desperately running away from a pursuer, and in his panic falls and trips, perhaps inciting a feeling of tension similar to that of horror movies.
This second camera angle is a POV over-the-shoulder shot of a police officer who is seemingly chasing a criminal, and when they fall to the ground it has a more comedic effect overall, indicating the ‘criminal’ is clumsy and not widely threatening. With the application of further may tools such as the camera sequencer which we have looked at previous, a sequence could be compiled together to create a two-dimensional dynamic narrative between the two characters that contrasts and conflicts perspectives.
I think considering camera angles will be vital to any future piece of work I will consider, just as cinematography is important for film conveyance of mood, setting and overall narrative enhancement. Below I have listed some readings that I could consider to hone in on my understanding of this aspect and apply it to my own pieces of work.
Reading List
. Keating, P. (ed) (2014) Cinematography. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
.Brown, B. (2011). Cinematography: Theory and Practise: Imagemaking for Cinematographers and Directors. Oxford: Focal Press.
.Mascelli, J. (1998). The Five C’s of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques. Los Angeles, California: Silman-James Press.
While my key reference for aesthetics and design derive from the the 1929 Disneys Silly Symphony the skeleton dance, I think it is important to consider further areas of which black and white cinema has influence on film culture, and aspects of this I can apply to my own work going forward.
German Expressionism
As described by Ian Roberts, German Expressionism do not just represent a particular era and country but “ the very essence of the early film Industry” (2008, p.1) . I think this underscores a very key movement for film in its entirety and helps state its prevalence as an art form which inherently feeds into the representational importance of animation as artistic expression. A strong point Roberts expands on is the idea that German expressionism was “ articulating a sense of existential angst before psychoanalysis had reached the popular consciousness” (2008, p.39) . The exemplification of psychoanalytic expression through film accentuates different aesthetic points which I feel are improved by the black and white medium. For example the use of dark elongated shadows which are ultimately ‘Unhemlich’ (Uncanny) in quality associate with the horrors created solely by the mind (Freud, 2003). I believe the grainy and lower quality aspects of the camera also allow more room for a more anonymous and incomprehensible figure to be formed that ultimately assists in the dissociative and uncomfortable uncanny creativity of ones mind.
(Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror, 1922)
In the famous expressionist film Nosferatu: a Symphony of horror (1922), a technique in which the negative of the scene is used to dramatically unsettle the viewer (2008). In application to modern day 3D computer generated imagery this can be achieved by rendering through alpha channels and switching this in post production, and provides interesting points of reference that I could potentially inhibit in my own film as a direct reference to this piece of early 20s cinema. Another important technique mentioned in the inclusion of this film is the of a lighting technique that is shot in a “half-light which renders the edge of the frame almost totally black” that accentuates the centre (Roberts, 2008, P. 45). There are also many scenes in which landscapes are unnaturally exposed to light, causing the time of day to be confusing and difficult to place, ultimately accentuating its supernatural representation (Roberts, 2008).
I think considering these aspects of lighting will be important to understanding how to incorporate important historical and cultural films within my own work. Replicating older technology within modern technology such as Maya may be achieve with a better overall quality within post production. I also feel asset texturing may benefit my aesthetic goals as, while the old fashioned camera inherently draws attention to itself in use, I feel in animation an impression of human craftsmanship will also aid placing its contextual era. In this, I could potentially hand draw textures to show impressions of line work and hand shading onto my models to give them a direct relationship to the old fashioned.
Over exaggerated set design in Genuine (1920)
As seen in the Expressionist film Genuine (1920) the background shows direct and heavy line work that gives away its ingenuity, which creates a sense of irony given its name. This could be something I consider stylistically replicating in my own film.
German Expressionist films to reference-
The Hand of Orlac
Genuine
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
References
Roberts, I. 2008. German Expressionist Cinema: The World of Light and Shadow. Wallflower Press: Great Britain
What is it? A VR Comic adaptation of artist ‘False Knees’
What is its purpose? To entertain audiences with blunt and existential humour.
What are the key features? A player is interacting with two seagulls differing in personality and follows them as they converse through a day at the seaside.
Role assignments and group responsibilities? Yiran, Callum and Lin are all working on the Virtual reality and unity scriptwriting elements of the project, me and Marianna are doing modelling and character animation.
Achievement
Concept- what is its novelty? It provides a relatively unexplored area of virtual reality experience that is not inherently related to games/ gameplay and provides a more accessible way to experience using VR.
What is driving the narrative? The comic-inspired dialogue and interchanging environments.
What is the Development Process? Developing a relationship between comic art and virtual 3D space in relation to experiences
What is the practical scope? Due to the 3D nature of Virtual reality and 3D animation, there is a pre-existing understanding of workflows and pipelines that require both animation, modelling, and game engine scripting in order to be a finished piece. This collaboration exists in industry-standard practice.
Target Audience
Who is the work aimed at? Young adults who enjoy comic humour
What aspects of the work have been chosen due to this? There are elements of language that targeted an older audience, however, contain elements of culture more likely to be understood by a more recent generation.
Why have you chosen this target audience demographic? it is much easier to gain access to and converse Ideas with people within the 18-25 age bracket due to the nature of the university experience. This also means that our group has a shared understanding of the humour involved, and cultural references.
Technical
What techniques are you and your collaborators employing to achieve your goal? We are trying to integrate as much use of virtual reality technology as we can, which includes changing narrative planning such as storyboarding in 3D space. We have also been modelling and animating with more game-like thought processes, keeping things lower poly and animating in loop cycles.
Plans and Timelines
What is your timeline for the finalization of your project?
How will you test aspects of your project as you progress? Every week we have been having group meetings, in which the VR students bring their own headsets and equipment for us to preview the progress of collating all the scene files together.
Looking at mechanical animation, which focuses on four key elements rotation, positing, framing and timing. Due to its mechanical nature, the modelling will also be very smooth and man-made in presentation. The youtube link below highlights the main functions of the useless machine box which I used as a ground basis to develop this model and animated sequence.
imitating a finger and a switch, the primary idea of the useless machine is to turn the switch back off after it has been pressed. In the first version, I created a mechanical arm that rises from the box in time with the switch. Being mechanically orientated in motion, the timing has to have a very perfect and controlled feel to it that lacks the unpredictableness of natural motion.
Useless Machine mechanical arm
Taking this idea a step further, and using a rig to add a more enticing and performed character animation to the shot concept. For this, I tried to use an unconventional rig, a fish, and try to create its motion in a certain way to create a comedic effect in both timing and restricted movement. In this sense, I ‘broke’ the rig by overstretching the arm in a way that exemplifies the ridiculousness of the fish, an organic creature, appearing out of a box to cause mayhem. This was difficult in the sense of trying to make the fish appear and move ‘mechanically’ which contrasts with its biological nature. In order to improve this going forward, I think that the animation is stripped back far too much, it does not truly give life to the fish, or display much of his character and emotional state other than the brief smile presented before pressing the switch. To push myself further with this exercise in future, I intend to use new techniques much like those displayed in the class workshop, where I could potentially use animation paths to create polygons that form as the box opens and closes to add the comedic effect of something larger being inside the box that it appears to be able to psychically contain.
The VR students showcased their midterm critical PowerPoint they intended to show their lectures with all or progress to date on it. The Unity environments have been developed and showed us their city/ beach developments. The storyboard script was also adapted to a finalised point.
Personal Goals this Week:
. VR Storyboarding
. Adjusting any models
VR Storyboarding
Following on from Week 2’s research, in order to effectively plan our gameplay sequence in 3D space, the members of the MA VR course set up a tilt brush for our use again to draw the characters in key elements of gameplay interaction. During this process, both I and Marianna (alongside Cal from MA VR) effectively utilised the 3D space in order to plan spatially and aesthetically the character interaction which not only gave us a clear outline of how the VR headset works but also gave us a more up-close insight into how the characters will look and move which will help with the animation process later on in the project.
While in the context of non-linear narrative storytelling tools, when approaching the storyboarding for this project, we went in with the mindset of an unconventionally structural plot, in which “effects are the direct result of causality” (Bucher, 2018, P.84). This engaged us and challenged us in a different way as it meant that the key elements, while able to follow a chain of differing triggers which allow space for narrative structure, ultimately have to make each sequence make sense on its own. As stated by Bucher, as many VR experiences rely on this non-linear narrative experience, they often include elements of traditional storytelling such as the introduction of empathetic characters (Bucher, 2018, P.84). This element in itself helped Marianna and myself translate our own storyboarding experiences based on a character-driven plot into several, broken down sections that build an overall narrative arc. The viewer engagement with these interactions, reward or cultivate the incentive to continue following the narrative, rather than gameplay elements, adding a uniqueness to the project’s artistic form.
Researching more into the world of games to get a better understanding of how this is multisided, there are several examples of non-linear narrative-heavy games that depend on player engagement such as the Life is Strange (Square Enix) series and TellTale comic adapted games. A key example of this is the recent Life is Strange: True Colours (Square Enix, 2019) which gives the player multiple options that change the overacting narrative of its very narrative-heavy story, which gives a strong implication of the intensive story development that went into it that is perhaps even more thought out than an entire animated film. Elements of this game is particularly brought to attention the different ways narrative can be explored in a more option, non-linear fashion such as interacting with objects in the worlds such as journals, letters, text messages and even NPC characters which help add depth and development to the world in a way that is entirely dependant on the individual’s personal engagement. Taking this into consideration for gameplay aspects for future projects, as a computer animation artist I think is important to think about all the different ways experience and story can be created in the realms of 3D.
Player Engegment through Non-linear Choice Based GameplayDrawing in VR Space
Drawing in 3D Space
Taking traditional artistic elements into three-dimensional space has proved to be something very educational and thought-provoking in the technological progression. As stated by Schkolne incoperating the “unfiltered physicality” of sponatiously hand drawn art, into a traditionally indirect and mathmathtically enveloped world add a human element and create a more artistic impression in technology (2002, P.1). This particular element of the VR world particularly drew my interest and has helped me engage more with the medium.
Examples of Tiltbrush DrawingsExample of Tiltbrush Drawing
The capture of Final Storyboard
Below is the final VR storyboard, and its progression of different narrative segments that build up the overall story, depending on player engagement and triggers. This includes the integration of key objects such as beachballs, sticks, fries and ice cream, which are all created with the intention of being interactable for the player.
References
Bucher, J 2017, Storytelling for Virtual Reality: Methods and Principles for Crafting Immersive Narratives, Taylor & Francis Group, Oxford. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [5 April 2022].
Schkolne, S. (2002) ‘Drawing with the Hand in Free Space: Creating 3D Shapes with Gesture in a Semi-Immersive Environment’, Leonardo, 35(4), pp. 371–375. doi: 10.1162/002409402760181132.
